No Substitute
by Only1ToniD
Summary: Carly goes to Jake's looking for Jason and finds AJ. But what if Carly never slept with AJ that night? Would Jason still be Michael's father only this time biologically as well? Written for the site's FIRST Challenge-30 days of Jarly.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Here's my solution for Michael's paternity! This is a three-parter!

Some of the content is dialogue from the canon-GH... I have no ownership of GH or its character & content because you already know what the deal would be if I did! Just saying!

* * *

**Part I:**

"I know a place where we can be alone." As soon as those words left AJ Quartermaine's mouth, she knew she was on the verge of making a bad decision. A decision she might not be able to follow through to its expected conclusion.

"Is it close?" Carly responded with a drunken grin even as she thought, _Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why couldn't I just make the smart choice for once?_

AJ grinned happily as he replied, "Very." Then he took her hand and led her up the stairs. He kissed her urgently as he opened the door. Carly was immediately assaulted with images of nights gone by with a different blue-eyed blond. She nearly said his name as realization hit as to whose room was inspiring the since of déjà vu. They were in Jason's room. She broke the kiss and moved away hoping to get some air… so she could think. _Was this really what I wanted? To be thought beautiful by another stranger, just like with my best friend once upon a time. _AJ's arms snaked their way around her waist as he nuzzled her neck.

"You are the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen," he whispered desperately into the skin of her neck.

"Oh, please," she giggled feeling special, but knowing he was full of it. _Take the beer goggles off and say that._

"It's true," he asserted sounding almost sober as he turned her to face him. "You're like an angel. You've got a glow that could just light up the whole world." His apparent sincerity once again wooed her away any good sense she might have had as she fell into his passionate kisses.

At least until the memories of another man's kisses pulled her free. "Could you—could you just hold me?"

"Yeah," AJ assured Carly before pulling her back into his arms.

Feeling him hold her, all Carly could do was close her eyes and cling. With her eyes closed, she could almost imagine it was Jason's arms wrapped so securely around her. After a few moments, AJ nuzzled her neck before kissing her again. This time when they came together, it was a slower, more leisurely connection. One that she tried to believe felt right. When that didn't work, she tried again to pretend that she was with Jason, but the illusion didn't last. It was not long before the feeling of wrongness overwhelmed her again.

"AJ."

"What's the matter? What's wrong?" he asked with concern not even noticing the sorrow in her expression.

"I'm not ready," she explained gently.

"It's ok. We have all night long," he swore, the sincerity in his voice leading her to believe that kissing was all that he had in mind and allowed her to continue drifting in his arms for a little longer.

* * *

Jason Morgan swept into Jake's like he often did: all confidence. Looking around for his target, he noticed a bartender busing tables.

"Hey yo, Sam. Seen AJ Quartermaine? Blond guy, blue eyes, same height as me. Wears a jacket and tie," he offered as a description.

"Talkin' about that congressman guy that was all over the television news tonight?" he asked wiping down another table.

"Yeah. Yeah, you seen him?" Jason asked.

"See him? I'm lucky I've got any vodka left," he chuckled as he continued busing tables.

"How long ago did he leave?"

"About an hour ago. He was with some hot-looking babe. We started getting busy so I can't be sure, but it looked like they were headed upstairs. Strange since I know all the tenants and I ain't ever seen them before." He grabbed his bucket of dishes and headed toward the bar.

Jason frowned, then looked toward the back staircase with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

But before he could turn and head up the stairs, Sam spoke again. "Oh, Morgan! Hey. I forgot. She left something for you." He grabbed a piece of paper off the shelf behind the bar and offered it to Jason.

Jason took the proffered note with a nod of thanks, and read: _I came looking for you because I needed you. I guess you're busy, which is just my luck. Call me when you can. _The note confirmed his fear, and the feeling growing in his stomach turned to ice when he realized AJ had taken Carly to his room. He immediately turned and bounded up the stairs two at a time all the while thinking, _Come one, Carly. Don't do anything stupid._


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**_I was gonna drag out posting this story a little bit, but I decided not to do that! I decided to go ahead and post part two NOW and for the third part post this evening! Consider it your Labor Day gift from me to you! Love my Jarly fam!_

_OXOXOXOXO, Toni_

* * *

**Part II:**

Carly managed to stay in the moment until AJ began undressing her by untying her blouse. Her mind once again replaced him with images of Jason, but she still couldn't do it… especially not there.

"Stop, AJ," she begged, stopping before he could unbutton her blouse. "I thought I could do this… that it would be enough to just have someone make me feel beautiful, but I-I can't do it… especially not here."

"Carly," he began, preparing to convince her again, but she cut him off right away.

"No, AJ. Let me go. Look, I'm sorry, but I can't do this," she repeated, more assertively as he ripped her shirt open. "AJ! Stop it. This is not happening!"

Before either of them could do or say anything more the door slammed open… and there he stood.

"Jason!" Carly gasped in relief as she freed herself from AJ and launched herself into Jason's waiting arms.

"You ok?" Jason asked, barely taking his eyes off AJ long enough to look at her.

"Fine," she assured him. "We got a little drunk and things got out of hand. No harm done."

Jason nodded, but it was obvious he was unconvinced by the glare he kept trained on AJ and the way he pulled her closer. "I was looking for you. Your family needs you."

"Oh, really?" AJ scoffed, falling into the old resentments. "What could they possibly want or need from me if they had you around?"

"Emily's in the hospital," Jason stated stoically. "She OD'd and nearly died."

"Oh my GOD!" both Carly and AJ gasped.

"I have to go," AJ responded urgently, sobering up considerably.

"Do everyone a favor and have Sam call you a cab," Jason tossed out as AJ rushed by him.

AJ nodded, then stopped beside the door to ask, "You coming?"

"I'll go back in the morning," he answered quietly, remembering the feeling of being helpless once the ambulance arrived. _There was nothing more I can do for Emily tonight, _he thought. _But Carly needs me._

"What happened?" she asked as soon as the door closed behind AJ. "How do you even know AJ and the rest of the Quartermaines? I guess through Robin, right?"

"It's not important right now." He turned her in his arms and brushed a strand of hair from her face. "What happened?"

"If you have something more important, Jase," she says looking down and trailing off.

He pulled her note out his pocket. "You said you needed me. That's all the matters to me right now."

"Oh, god, Jase!" she cried and he pulled her farther into his arms. "Can I stay with you tonight? I don't want to be alone anymore."

"You'll never be alone, Carly," he swore. "I'm not going anywhere and you don't have to either."

All of the tension and pain melted out of Carly's body as she whispered, "Thanks, Jase."

* * *

She laid in his arms wearing nothing, but the t-shirt he'd lent her and a pair of his boxers. As he listened patiently, she told him about everything that had happened that night.

"I knew it was stupid," she mumbled into his bare chest. "He was just so sweet after Tony had been so mean and I felt horrible. It just felt so good to feel wanted and special and worthy, you know?" she paused in her rambling to look up at him. "Maybe you don't. But anyway, being here… in this room, all I could think about is you and me and how it felt when we were together. You're the only person in my life who really knows me and still likes or even cares, but it felt really good to hear someone call me beautiful, even if he was just saying it to get me into bed."

"Carly, you know you're beautiful," he replied matter-of-factly, expecting her quick agreement, but receiving silence instead. "Right?"

"No, I'm sexy. Beautiful is something for those perfect people like you," she demurred. "Not for crazy people like me."

Jason frowned at being called "beautiful" and "perfect" and at the thought that she didn't see herself as beautiful. "Carly, I'm not perfect," he said. "And you are beautiful… and special and worthy, whatever that's supposed to mean. Don't let Dr. Jones or anyone else make you think you're not."

"Jason, I know you believe that because you don't lie," she began in awe. "But don't you see… you don't even want me. You probably just feel sorry for me because my life is always such a wreck."

"Carly, I think you're beautiful because you are," Jason reiterated. "I have never _not _wanted you. I just realized that it would have been wrong to keep lying to Robin and it would just hurt her if I kept sleeping with you. So I ended it. I thought it was for the best so that no one ended up getting hurt."

"Really?" Carly whispered hopefully. "So if there was no Robin…"

"Carly, I'm not good at imagining things," he responded. "Besides you couldn't stand me when we were having sex."

"No, you couldn't stand me," she clarified. "I just couldn't stand that you didn't want me as much as I wanted you. I only asked you to be my 'boy on the side' because I never thought a guy like you could be interested in more than sex with a girl like me. You didn't even want to have a conversation with me. And then, there was Robin. So once again, I wasn't good enough. I knew I wasn't good enough, but I tried to hold onto you anyway and it only made you dislike me in the end."

"But it didn't last," he whispered in shock as her words slowly began dawning on him. "Carly. I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's ok," she assured him cuddling closer. "I get that you don't always… ok, ever really get the whole boy/girl thing so I moved on… with Tony. He seemed to be the only other person who cared. Now I know that even that's not true."

"Carly," he whispered, lifting her chin. "Look at me. You need to know that not only are sexy. You are beautiful and smart and funny and loyal and special. You are my best friend outside of Sonny. You are important to me. Don't doubt that, Carly. Not ever."

Staring into her bottomless ebony eyes, Jason knew he was going to do something that would hurt Robin, but he couldn't regret it. His mouth brushed hers causing a jolt of surprise to shiver through Carly.

"But Jason," she whimpered warily, but he just rested a finger over her mouth and replaced it with his mouth.

"You need to know how much I want you and need you in my life," he whispered before deepening the kiss. She needed no further reassurance that he knew what he was doing.

For the first time, they came together not in that insistent, urgent, fiery inferno, but in a simmering slow burn that built towards an even more explosive ecstasy. That first kiss set the tone of their lovemaking. It was slow and deep, and it shocked them both with its intensity. Their clothes seemed to melt away until they were flesh to flesh. It was unlike anything either of them had ever experienced, this molten-hot, liquid glide of passion through their blood that was driving them higher with every touch and kiss. When Jason finally joined them making them one, they froze in the moment eyes locking at the devastating power of the connection they were sharing.

As that moment of awe passed, Jason began the drive towards madness with soul-shattering focus. Carly let go of any doubts about what she meant to him and soaked in the realization that this was a moment they would always treasure… no matter what the morning brought. When she came apart in his arms, he was there with her.

"I love you, Jase," she whimpered at the pinnacle of her release. He responded with a final thrust as he came again.

They laid there for what felt like eternity as reality slowly returned. Carly stiffened as she remembered her words in the heat of passion, and quickly tried to disentangle herself as she tried to come up with a way to take it back without lying to him. At least she did until she noticed the evenness of his breathing. He was asleep. She sighed in relief, and gave him one last squeeze before rolling him to his side and cuddling up so she could get some rest as well.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part III:**

The following morning they reluctantly agreed to keep it between the two of them. Jason, of course, wanted to tell Robin everything, but Carly managed to convince him that if he did, it would either be the end of his relationship with Robin or his friendship with her.

* * *

_"What girlfriend in her right mind would trust her man being friends with a woman he'd slept with even after he promised he never would again?" she'd argued as she dressed. "I know I wouldn't. The first time you had the excuse that you didn't know any better because you weren't officially exclusive. This time, you would definitely be considered OFFICIALLY exclusive, and this could be construed as cheating by certain people."_

_"It is cheating, Carly," Jason responded dryly, watching her dress and missing their closeness._

_"No," she sighed as she noticed the missing buttons on her shirt. She lifted one of his shirts. "Can I?" When he nodded, she slipped it over her head before continuing, "Well, maybe to Robin, this could kinda look like cheating, but all you really did was help a friend out during a hard time. Why should you be punished for doing a good deed?"_

_"But Carly, I enjoyed myself," he replied. "It's not like it's any sacrifice having sex with you."_

_"Right back at you, hot stuff." Carly chuckled with a naughty gleam in her eye, a wide grin splitting her face and a wink, while zipping up her boots. "And so what if you had fun? Where is it written that helping out your fellow man—or woman—can't be fun? Although it usually isn't for me. Forget I said that. Besides, it's not like fun was the point! If that was all this was about, I would let it go, and agree that this was indeed cheating, but it's not. So why be selfish and hurt that girl to ease your conscience over a one-night thing? Isn't it my job to be selfish, anyway?"_

_Jason was left completely speechless for a moment. "I know there has to be a flaw in your 'logic' somewhere."_

_"Don't think so hard about," she quipped with a smirk. "Now, I need to go. Thank you, Jason. Really. And don't tell her or anyone about last night, ok? It'll be our little secret. Promise?"_

_"I just broke my promise to Robin. Why would you trust anything I said?" he asked, his guilt beginning to weigh on him._

_"No," Carly denied firmly taking his face in her hands. "I trust you completely. You would never break your word. This is like… the exception that proves the rule. Remember, this doesn't count, anyway because you said you'd never have sex with me again and you didn't. What we shared in that bed was about more than just sex. Otherwise, you would have walked in on me screwing AJ blind, deaf, and dumb."_

_"You are amazing, you know that, right?" Jason whispered in awe of her ability to twist things like facts or the truth to suit her purposes._

_Carly's eyes softened. "When you say it, I believe it," she whispered before briskly stepping away and grabbing her coat and shrugging into it. She turned back to find Jason watching her._

_"Thank you, Jase. For always being my friend and caring about me, I know I ask for a lot and you know I lie a lot, and I'm selfish and I drive you crazy, but… you're always willing to help me. Nobody has ever been as good to me as you are. You're the best friend anyone could ever ask for and definitely, the best friend I've ever had. And now I'm rambling. So… just thank you. You are the best person I have ever known." She rushed over, pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, and hurried out of the room._

* * *

After that night, things seemed to change as they got busy with their lives. At first, they managed to find the time to touch bases on occasion. She told him about the baby at the Nurse's Ball and made him promise to warn her if he decided to tell Robin—only by then there was no Robin to tell. Jason told her he trusted her to make the right decisions for the baby as its mother, but that if she ever needed a friend, his door was always open and he would be there for them.

Somehow, after that night, even against their best efforts, they continued drifting apart. Jason fell in deeper with Sonny and the mob, while Carly fought to keep her head above water with AJ and Tony. AJ continued trying to woo her away from Tony and Tony had begun losing interest in their relationship until it was obvious he was more interested in the baby than in her. Meanwhile, Sonny left the business in Jason's hands. He was coming to accept his life would be about work and work alone.

But fate had other ideas…

One night, when Jason was meeting with a few of his associates, they were interrupted by a commotion in the hall. Jason excused himself as he heard the sound of a very familiar, very determined voice call out, "He'll want to see me!"

He knew even before opening the door who it was, but it still didn't lessen his shock upon seeing her standing there soaking wet and in tears. He had no way of knowing that moment would change his life.

"Jason, I-I need you," she said weepily.

Jason looked behind him trying to block her view of the men in his apartment and vice versa. He hissed, "Carly, I'm busy right now."

"Jason, it's really important," she pleaded.

"What?" he snapped, checking to see what was happening with the men inside his penthouse.

"I did something you're really not gonna like," she sniffled.

With those words, Carly changed both of their lives forever.


End file.
